Scrap-Paper Sketches

My Pencil Drawings and Doodles: Concepts and Distractions

In lectures, when I'm trying to keep my eyes open and need something to focus on, I reach for my pencil and scrap paper. When doing assignments and needing a moment to process, I doodle in the margins. When I'm trapped at a train station with nothing to do, I scribble on my readings for next week. When it's late and I don't want to go to bed just yet I pull out my sketchbook.

When an idea strikes me and I can't go paint it, I draw it as a visual note. When I'm reading a graphic novel, or reading a magazine and I see a face that captures my imagination, a really interesting hand, or I'm trying to figure out the style... I grab my pencil and use it as a reference. And sometimes, when I'm serious about a painting, I brainstorm everywhere before drawing it up in ArtRage.

My sketches are random and messy designs, delicate, crude, realistic, fantastical, distorted. Half of them are in sketchbooks the size of my hand or half that, and the other half are drawn on the backs of handouts for class, letters from the bank, journal readings for assignments and scrap paper I grabbed at work in my lunch break. Some of them will never be continued, others will appear in my paintings later. But increasingly, they're starting to be art of their own accord.

Serval - July, 2010

Did this on my field trip - being a biological science campus the place had a lot of National Geographic magazines, and I used this beautiful photograph as a reference.

Drawn in a Moleskine, across two pages (and now I'm paranoid and have to keep a bit of paper in between which is why I don't normally draw on both sides). By my standards for realistic and detailed sketches, this is quite large! (slightly smaller than a4, or the size of two half-spread hands held side-by-side).

Didn't finish all the spots because they were really boring >.> Just pencils. Also LOVE LOVE LOVE having my artist putty rubber stuff again.

Time was... dunno. An hour? Three hours? I was away a week and would do this in spare, bored, moments... You can see more of my cat paintings and drawings on my Cat Paintings lens.

A Concept of A Wing - April 2010, back of note paper

Wing Concept

Batwings for dragons and demons, feathered wings, but a way to effectively combine the two.... I really want to use this idea. I have Plans.

Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth

Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth

Velma (Cathereine Zeta-Jones) from Chicago

Velma (Cathereine Zeta-Jones) from Chicago

Choosing the Right Pencils - My most IMPORTANT sketching tip

If I have one single most important first thing to tell anyone about drawing with pencils (apart from actually being able to draw!), that took me far too long to learn and helped me the most, it is this:

Choose The Right Pencils

- You can use one pencil or many. Each pencil has a range, so if you're going to only carry one or two around, carry one that is light enough for the initial sketches. You can fix it up later.

- Do not try and sketch with an H or an 8B. Pick a light, medium soft pencil. My favourite is F, but 2B works well, if you're lighthanded, and is a common one (I've lost my F and can only find 2Bs at the moment!)

- The paper will affect what your pencil does.

- The light hand takes practice. I'm not very good at it. I also tend to draw an excessive number of test/practice/contour lines, finding the shape of things. Combine this with a heavy, dark pencil and you have disaster. For this reason, you want to pick the lightest, most easily erased.

- You can go over the shadows later! You can make your drawing as dark as you like, if you have the patience to keep shading. A dark pencil (6B-8B) makes it quicker and can get darker, but just going over and over a drawing with a 2B or 4B can get it very dark.

- Go over the shadows later. Contrast is important!

- You cannot perfectly erase your pencils every time. Find a good eraser (the artist putties are actually amazingly good), but don't assume you can get rid of lines and shading. And DON'T dent the paper! You can't erase physical lines in the paper itself.

Rapunzel's So Mature Now - Mother Gothel from Tangled

Finger Monocle - Reference practice, April, 2010

A 2B pencil and half a page of A4 scrap paper, about 30 minutes, while bored.

I had nothing to do, so raided my photo albums and found this one - it's of a friend, circling her eye with her thumb and fingers. The photo was so blurry and the hand looked so out of context that most people don't even recognise what the photograph is meant to be! It always amused me, that you had to know what it was to know what it was. If you know what I mean.

Earth and Sea - April 2010, planning

Earth and Sea: Repainting of Colours of the Imagination

Reworking of this painting (the colourful one up in my profile on the top right) on the back of an assignment I was about to hand in! (Didn't get it back for a week).

Half a4 paper

Blue Eyed Girl - Reference Practice, April 2010

Pencil sketch of a girl

A model in an ad in a magazine. Had the 'Twilight' look going on - pale, Bella-ish, dark hair, very bright blue eyes (obviously edited) but it was a good photo and I had little choice of references. And her face is interesting.

A 2B pencil and A4 scrap paper.

About 30 minutes.

Captain Malcolm Reynolds, From Serenity

Captain Malcolm Reynolds, From Serenity

The Purring Tree - April 2010

The Purring Tree: idea for a painting

A concept sketch in class - a furry tree that purs when you stroke it. The cheshire cat is part of the tree - a fruit or a knot in the branch.

You can also see the writing on the other side!

Robin Penn-Wright, as Buttercup from The Princess Bride.

Robin Penn-Wright, as Buttercup from The Princess Bride.

Natalie Portman - Reference Practice, April 2010

Evie from V for Vendetta

Off the back of the V For Vendetta DVD (love that film, And the book).

Lord of the Rings Characters - Sketched Portraits in Moleskine

Click thumbnail to view full-size

Aragorn

Arwen

Galadriel

Pippin

Gorgon Concept - Lecture Doodle, April 2010

Medusa Sketch

Drawing all over the back of my note paper. Or in this case, the assignment I was due to hand in. At least the lecturers were amused (I actually thought it was my scrap paper and did what must have been a rather dramatic double take when I picked it up and checked the other side).

So yeeesss. Some kind of medusa theme, and a sword in a glass pedestal, and a whale... and a badly drawn fish, but we won't talk about that >.>

Half of an a4 piece of paper.

Kitties Chasing Flutterdragons - April 2010

The Cat Butterfly Dragon Sketch

Practicing cats, then adding something for them to chase. I'd just been drawing butterflies for another painting, so I redrew what I remembered of the wing pattern.

But butterflies are boring, so they're obviously little dragons. And then I decided I really liked that idea, so I added another.

Moleskine Magery - 2010

Sketch of a Mage-Girl and her Dragon by Flynn the Cat

A bored magic-student girl summons a glowing light to distract her little dragon and lure him into spitting out his own little twists of flaming light.

Found this by chance in my Moleskine sketchbook. Tidied it up a little, now I have more artist putty/ PROPER rubber thing (also known as a kneading eraser) again and darkened her eyes and things and finished off little details. But not all details. I like the see-through floatiness of it, and her pose - which I think was rather hard to do,a nd get the proportions and tensions in her limbs right.

I seem to like designing clothing

Kneaded Erasers - Also necessary: a kneaded eraser or artist putty

These are the BEST possible erasers for artists. They seem to magically erase almost everything and sort of clean themselves as they go (you just have to knead it a bit).

Even better - you can shape them and put them on the end of a pencil, rub them thin to pick up tiny marks or neaten up your edges, or make hats out of them! They look and feel a lot like blu-tac, but I've tried that - it works pretty well for lifting off marks but is impossible to clean. A proper artist putty is the best investment you could make.

Eyehawk - Surrealism. October, 2009

First page in my new moleskine sketchbook. This was a birthday card for my sister.

Death of the Endless - May, 2010

Neil Gaiman's Death

Neil Gaiman's Death, one of the Endless, and the oldest and wisest.

Practice sketches using a comic as reference.

Birds and Fish - February 2009, reference practice and boredom

Practicing - a conglomerate of sketches

This is what I drew sitting in an office over a day or two while holidaying in the UK (was doing work experience in my uncle's fisheries office in Brixton )

So I figured it was time to practice my realism.

Half of these are copied from fish flyers and conservation leaflets around the office - the three fish across the top (eel, redfish & Chub Mackerel), the penguin, and the loggerhead turtle.

The birds are all from my own photographs - I had my camera with me and just referred to the screen. Little Egret I happened across in Kingsteignton, a canada goose swimming (I like that one) and Gulls and a turnstone from around the Brixham quay.

The barn owl was a stuffed one from the Cardiff museum :D

The Sand Tiger Shark head, the Bream, and the spidercrab are from photos of a trip to the Plymouth Aquarium. As was the dolphin - except that was a model.

Fisheater - Sketch of a fisheater...October, 2009

Drew this on the back of one of my thesis surveys, during the four hours of presentations on marine reserves (Some of them were actually quite interesting. But I DID have paper in front of me!).

So yes, a fish hunter, with little teeth and scribbly fishies and vague water droplets and pebbly scales.... the problem with this picture is the 'crop' - the actual dragon keeps going, and I know exactly how big the wings are, where the legs, are, but of course, they can't be drawn in here without creating a contorted monster ...

Marine - An Earlier Seadragon, July 2009

Marine: A Seadragon Sketch

And here we have a dragonish sort of creature, with filament gills, and fish-eating-fangs. An earlier version of the Piscivorous Dragon. Concept and under-the-sea practice. With sharks, in the square sketchbook.

Doctor Who? - Practicing. October, 2009

Dr. Who, moleskine pencil sketch

Ref'd from a Doctor Who book I grabbed from the children's section downstairs during a lunch break. Pencil in moleskine; not shaded etc because I'll probably colour it.One day... maybe...

I do intend to colour it, and it's composed with that in mind - it's also a bit of a mix between my 'natural' method of heavy shading etc which is impossible to colour over, and trying to make a clean, easily erased, lineartish drawing.

Pencil Drawing Techniques - Learn how to sketch properly

I actually hate 'studying' how to draw, but despite myself, I've picked up tips over the years. I try and take one thing away from everything I read or look at.

Still, I do feel a little like kicking myself when I look through books like these and see all the things it took me ages to figure out for myself!

Buffy - April 2010

Sketch of Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) off the back of one of the DVDs.

Fae - Pre-painting sketch, August, 2009

Fae sketch: rats and fairies

A Fae warrior, riding her rat-steed. Rats make very good mounts for trees, as they're very agile and have tails that can wrap around everything.

Julia Deans - Reference practice, April 2010

Julia Deans pencil sketch

The subject is Julia Deans, from the new Zealand band Fur Patrol - the original photo had amazing red hair, which caught my eye. Anyway, practice, and I only had one pencil, and no proper rubber (I made do with a sort of white bluetac - works well, except you can't undirty it).

Hair practice and faces, really... could improve, but not too bad. Also the original photograph. was quite odd looking too

In a tiny A6 sketchbook, referenced from a little music handout/events article thing. Took almost exactly one hour.

Music from Fur Patrol

Swallow on the Rocks - Reference practice, October 2009

A little swallow from a trip up to Goat Island marine reserve. We went out on the glass bottom boat and I photographed it sitting on the cliff on the island.

Moleskine, prismacolors, and graphite pencil for the rocks.

Dark Moth Lady - Doodles, March 2010

Ballpoint and Class Notes

Doodling while taking notes in a lecture, drawings with a ballpoint pen.

Mermaids and Cat-Dragons - Random doodling in lecture, April 2010

Mermaid, Girl's Face and a catlike dragon

Doodles in class over the back of my scrap paper. A spiky mermaid, a face I erased and redrew six times, and a dragon curled up like a cat. Cats and dragons have a lot in common. (I ran out of room to do the wings properly, but the perspective was interesting to attempt).

Figure Studies: Feet and Form - June 2010

Figure studies: practicing feet and figure

These are obviously just a lot of little studies from photographs - the top right hand sketch became this quick painting:

The TwoShield Army - Visual notetaking, November 2009

An Army That Only Uses Shields: ArtRage sketch

This was actually sketched in ArtRage and was an attempt to illustrate my idea of what an army armed only with two shields would look like.

Giles and Saffron - 8th August, 2010

Anthony Stewart Head and Christina Hendricks - click for more Buffy fanart!

Bored at my parent's house, so I decided to practice some more drawing. Was putting together a page of my Buffy pictures and realised I needed to draw Giles.

Of course, I only had scrap paper, and then I had to find a pencil, and then they were all blunt, and then I finally sharpened it and found a rubber... and then with these scrappy leftovers I draw something I LIKE and want to keep. Typical - and how most of the sketches on this page originated!

The man (top two) is Anthony Stewart Head - left is him as Rupert Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and right I think is just a generic celebrity shot. The woman is Christina Hendricks, who played Saffron in Firefly.

Concept sketches, March 2010

More Little Sketchbook Sketches - Filling time and pages in lectures: May 2010

Click thumbnail to view full-size

Flower Nymph - Random drawing, September, 2009

Pencil drawing - plant girl ideas

Square sketchbooks are fun, you can compose pictures in any direction. This was an attempt to draw a girl as part of a plant. Her fingers are roots, her skin the petals, her hair the stamens...

Wine and Birds

Wine Tableau

May 2010

A little sketch to capture an idea for a painting.

Sharks - Practicing, September 2009

Mermaid Sketch With Sharks

Practicing the big scary fishies and mermaids. Square sketchbook.

Magazine Sketch - 1st August, 2010

Just a quick sketch of a woman in a magazine advertisement.

Serpent of V - June 2010

Another Sea Serpent SketchSerpent of V

Sketched in the back of a customer service handout book (had a session for work - the best part was half of us spontananeously acting out the beginning of Black Books with the Little Book of Calm and Dylan Moran :D )

And one of the people I work with, who is rather awesome and has a Sense of Humour that I approve of thought it was one of the sea serpents from Castle Age, cause we'd just killed one of those together. So to speak >.>

My Art Sites, Shops and Online Galleries

FlynntheCat's Profile | RedGageFlynntheCat's profile where you can view all the blogs, videos, photos, documents, and links created by FlynntheCat on RedGage

Flynn the Cat's Fantasy Art Store on ZazzleMy Zazzle Store - you can buy posters, postcards, mugs, t-shirts and other oddities here with my artwork on. One day I will be an artist who actually earns money from their work!

Flynn_the_Cat's Art: where to find me (Squidoo Lens)Welcome to my Profile lens. This page lists all my art sites, blogs and shops, as well as my other lenses created to date - for my own convenience and for anyone who wants to contact me. See my fantasy art, my nature paintings and my photography. Get

My Squidoo Gallery: An overview of my paintings & art lensesThis lens attempts to pull together my various art lenses, by giving you a thumbnail overview of the contents of each art-based lens (dragons, mermaids, cats, and whatever else I make in future...). I've also added a few other bits and pieces, that I

Lord of the Facebook Comic Strips (practice sketches) - Quick sketches to illustrate the 'Lord of the Facebook' parodies

Click thumbnail to view full-size

Studies of Gimli

Mostly studies of Aragorn and Legolas

Horses! A full exchange, but defintiely not the final layout.

Babysitting

Pose practice and a look at Arwen

Gimli Studies - 1st August 2010

Gimli Pencil: axe face and helmet studies

The Lord of the Facebook project - deviantART group

Original Pieces of Scrap Paper - Sketches All In A Muddle

Click thumbnail to view full-size

Swimming Turtle by Flynn the Cat

Swimming Turtle

May 2010

Ball Jointed Doll - October 2010

This BJD, Ophelia, was at the Auckland Armageddon convention, and I was bored and so I drew her. And yes, the proportions really are that unrealistic.

Sketch Out Your Responses Here - Do you like looking at sketches?

No HTML is allowed in comments, but URLs will be hyperlinked. Comments are not for promoting your articles or other sites.

sending

amsnead 5 years ago

Nice work. I know what you mean about "doodling". I've been an artist my whole life and have done a lot of it. I have an art box full completed, partially completed, sketchy, and random art and doodles. It's interesting how you designed a lens around yours.

anonymous 5 years ago

Fascinating.

chloeisabel1tm 5 years ago

Wow you are amazing! I just started drawing again (like Japanese cartoon stuff) and I want to learn how to draw things that look more real. I learned a lot just by looking at your drawings. Don't worry, I won't copy you but your pics really are amazing.

emmaklarkins 5 years ago

Really enjoyed looking at these. Thanks for sharing!

Morgannafay 5 years ago

I love your sketches! I love the fae the most and woman headed spider too.

sukkran trichy 6 years agofrom Trichy/Tamil Nadu

admired your art work. ~blessed~

John Dyhouse 6 years agofrom UK

love the sketches, I also try to sketch when I have a spare minute or two, wherever I am. try to make sure that I have a sketchbook but any surface is fine.

Deb Kingsbury 6 years agofrom Flagstaff, Arizona

I'd frame those pieces of scrap paper. Cool stuff!

VarietyWriter2 6 years ago

Blesse by a SquidAngel :)

ericalauren 7 years ago

I love your drawings! Great work!

bechand 7 years ago

wow - you are quite an artist - for scrap ... I am glad you put it together to have it kept in a nice place (here on squidoo)

anonymous 7 years ago

Oh man!! Those are BRILLIANT!!!!

burgessvillian 7 years ago

I like your sketches. My son is the artist in my family. I'm trying to get him to do some stuff for my lenses.. Congrats on the sunshine award.

Spook LM 7 years ago

I can't draw to save my life but always admire people who can. Congratulations on your award.

I especially love the "two shields" sketch. It reminds me of something out of Far Side or Hagar the Horrible! And the Swallow on the Rocks is lovely. My security word below is very appropriate: megawow!

anonymous 7 years ago

My goodness these are awesome! Congrats on your Sunshine Award!

Virginia Allain 7 years agofrom Central Florida

I came back to see more of your delightful sketches. Very nice lines in these.

Liz Mackay 7 years agofrom United Kingdom

Wow you talented creature. I love your art.

enslavedbyfaeries 7 years ago

Super stunning lens! What a brilliant way to display your sketches. I love the Eyehawk and the closeups gallery, but the entire lens is just beautifully put together.

Nancy Tate Hellams 7 years agofrom Pendleton, SC

You are so talented. Thank you for sharing your Scrap Paper Sketches. I sure enjoyed my visit here. Did I read that this lens is participating in the Summer Sunshine Award Contest for Charity? If so, I would like to feature it on my lens for the nominees. Let me know. Thanks

hayleylou lm 7 years ago

Wow - you are so talented. These are amazing - 5*

justholidays 7 years ago

Once again, I'm speechless, you're a real artist and nothing can beat those splendid drawings, not even words!

Is there at least a drawing of you in this page? Aaaaargh! Wish I can prove you're a woman! Oh well, anyway, will keep naming you the Cat.

Dom.

semas 7 years ago

Great sketches-5*! I liked the eyehawk sketch.I am also an artist and often find myself doodling eyes.

Indigo Janson 7 years agofrom UK

Loved this insight into your artistic world! I sure do love looking at sketches, when they are this good! :)

enigma0430 lm 7 years ago

Very nice!

kab 7 years agofrom Upstate, NY

I love the Eyehawk !

burgessvillian 7 years ago

Nice sketches. I can't draw but my son does wonders. Cool idea for a lens too.

Mona 7 years agofrom Iowa

Really lovely. I'm adding it as a featured lens on my How To Draw Remarques lens. Truely lovely. :)

Light-in-me 7 years ago

Very cool and interesting they are all neat, but the Swallow on the Rocks is my favorite!

Great lens,

Robin

Wednesday-Elf 7 years agofrom Savannah, Georgia

Flynn, I love your sketches as much as your finished art work. You are an interesting artist.

My daughter has been 'sketching' since she was 6 years old (has an Fine Arts degree now) and would draw on every scrap of paper she could find. We finally got her a regular artists' sketch pad so she'd at least have most of her art in one place :-). Her husband does more than just sketch -- he works almost entirely in pencil (with inking done afterwards) in his very elaborate and detailed comic strip art. Because of the influence of these two 'artists' in my family, I'm always interested in artists and their work, so always enjoy following your artistic endeavors here on Squidoo!

myraggededge 7 years ago

You are right - they are 'art' in themselves. Lovely, had a very enjoyable stroll through your gallery. Blessed :-)

Susanna Duffy 7 years agofrom Melbourne Australia

I love the Gorgon!

Virginia Allain 7 years agofrom Central Florida

I'd actually pulled out my file of doodles from college the other day. Couldn't figure out what I might do with them... too skimpy to zazzle them. You have the perfect idea here.

I used to distract the other students who were bored, so they watched me draw instead of listening to the lecture.